Video playback typically includes decoding of a video stream and then performing different types of post processing on the decoded frames. Image post processing is intended to enhance the perceived visual quality of the pixels in an image (video frame). Examples of such post processing include, but are not limited to denoise (application of filters to remove noise from image), contrast enhancement (modification of pixel luminosity, ‘Y’ component of the ‘YUV’ representation of a pixel, to enhance contrast based on image characteristics), skin tone enhancement (enhancement of hue and saturation of pixels which represent skin-like colors) and color control (modification of the U and V component of a ‘YUV’ pixel to adjust saturation of colors).
Image post processing is performed on all pixels (macro blocks of pixels) for each decoded frame during video playback. The post processing may be performed, for example, on a host CPU, a programmable GPU, or on fixed function logic. No matter where it is performed, it will require the use of processing resources and will require that some power be dissipated on the platform.